**Thank you to Penguin for providing me with this ARC in exchange for my honest review.**
I should begin this review by saying Meg Wolitzer is one of my favorite authors. I read The Interestings at the beginning of the summer and loved it. I can honestly say there were tears streaming down my face by the end. I was so so so excited when I heard she was writing a young adult book!
Back-of-the-Book Blurb: If life were fair, Jam Gallahue would still be at home in New Jersey with her sweet British boyfriend, Reeve Maxfield. She'd be watching old comedy sketches with him. She'd be kissing him in the library stacks. She certainly wouldn't be at The Wooden Barn, a therapeutic boarding school in rural Vermont, living with a weird roommate, and signed up for an exclusive, supposedly life-changing class called Special Topics in English. But life isn't fair, and Reeve Maxfield is dead. When a journal-writing assignment leads Jam into a mysterious otherworld she and her classmates call Belzhar, she discovers a realm where the untainted past is restored, and she can feel Reeve's arms around her once again. But, as the pages of her journal begin to fill up, Jam must confront hidden truths and ultimately decide what she's willing to sacrifice to reclaim her loss.
My Thoughts: As Sylvia Plath is a huge part of this novel, I decided to read The Bell Jar after finishing Belzhar. I definitely think Belzhar helped me think more deeply about The Bell Jar. Belzhar was an excellent read. It was stunningly original, which is a quality that is often missing from young adult books. I was certainly not expecting the ending. The ending was amazing, as was the rest of the book. I have nothing but good things to say about this book. The characters were lovely and had tremendous growth throughout the novel. I highly recommend you hit up your local indie on September 30!
Final Rating: 9.5/10 stars!
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